Under the Influence
by Casa Circe
Summary: Zutara Week 2009 Day Four: Cactus Juice. My humble contribution. Katara's efforts to suppress her cactus-juice-induced urges are frustrated by an encounter with Zuko. Will she give in or had she always wanted to? One-shot.


**ZUTARA WEEK 2009 Day 4: CACTUS JUICE**

**Under the Influence**

**Disclaimer: **_**Avatar: the Last Airbender **_**belongs to Bryke, but Zutara week belongs to all Zutarians.**

_NOTE: This was actually the first prompt I was able to write for. The idea occurred to me almost immediately after learning that cactus juice was involved._

_And considering the wide range of possibilities, I hope that you enjoy this little entry. Rather ridiculous, but I hope funny enough._

_There are some hints of my favorite Austen novel here, I'm sure you will see them._

--

She had known that she was in deep trouble the moment she heard Sokka utter the word "quenchiest."

But much to Katara's dismay, it was too late for her.

She had already emptied the contents of the jug of "water" to quench her thirst when she heard her brother say the dreaded word. She had just finished intensive training under sweltering heat and the cool drink was a welcome respite.

In a nearby section of the Western Air Temple, Sokka was telling Haru about an extremely refreshing drink he had found in the surrounding forests.

"I didn't think I'd find it so far from the desert," Sokka was saying excitedly, "but there it was, a fat, juicy, little cactus plant, waiting for me to take its nectar."

"Is it safe to drink, do you think?" Haru asked skeptically.

"Of course, it is!" Sokka replied defensively, "and not just that, it's the quenchiest!"

"So where'd you stash it?" the earthbender had asked in a secretive tone.

"I borrowed one of Katara's water jugs," Sokka had muttered conspiratorially, "it's the one she usually drinks from, I think. Let's go get it later."

The rest of the conversation was muffled as the boys walked towards another section of the temple to finish their errands.

Katara's eyes had widened at this and she looked nervously at the now-empty jug.

She was just about to reprimand her brother for doing something so outrageous without her consent when she stopped to think.

Perhaps this wasn't the jug Sokka had used. She might have jumped to a conclusion and she did not want to embarrass herself in front of her brother. There might not be any danger at all.

After all, she had not tasted anything out of the ordinary when she drank from the jug. Although the water did seem rather sweet and really quenching.

Katara shook her head, dismissing the idea.

It was ridiculous.

She _would know _if she had drunk cactus juice.

The waterbender almost laughed at herself for being so silly. But then again...

the possibility lingered in her mind and nagged at her for the next hour or so.

But after some reflection, she decided not to worry about it too much. There were so many things she had to do.

So what if she may have consumed some cactus juice?

After all, what was the worse that could happen?

Immediately after she had thought this, images of an intoxicated Sokka, slithering like a snake and greeting mushroom sand clouds with glee flashed through her mind.

Katara's eyes widened in horror.

"Oh, monkeyfeathers."

--

For the rest of the day, the waterbender was on a heightened alert, always conscious of her every action, careful not to follow any sudden impulses.

At first she had contemplated bending the liquid from herself but that prospect was rather nasty to consider. So instead, she decided that she would steer clear of the others for the rest of the day until, hopefully, whatever strange side effects of the cactus juice would wear off.

She had considered berating her brother from bringing the maddening liquid but thought the better of it.

There would be time enough for that later. If she confronted Sokka now, who knew what she would say or do, under the influence of the cactus juice?

She shuddered to consider it, and so spent the rest of her time cautiously avoiding everyone and keeping herself on edge. She would remain in complete control of her senses.

She had been feeling funny ever since she realized what she had drunk. Her whole body seemed to grow weaker and her muscles were all tensed.

She was afraid of what nonsense she was now capable of doing with the juice in her system. But she was convinced that she possessed greater self-restraint than her brother.

Katara closed her eyes and took a deep breath.

"I shall conquer this," she muttered as she walked, "I shall."

And in her preoccupation with chanting this, she rounded a corner and bumped into someone unexpectedly.

--

Zuko grasped her shoulders to steady her and then profusely apologized for bumping into her (although she was the one who had not been paying attention to where she was going).

Katara blinked and realized who was before her.

She opened her mouth to make some snide remark or other to the firebender when she was struck with the strongest and strangest urge.

Gazing intently at the firebender's face, she was compelled to kiss him.

Instantly, Katara closed her eyes and suppressed the thought. It was absolutely incredible and unacceptable. Why had she even thought that? What had just come over her? Of all people, why him?

(A small voice enumerated several reasons to her which she dismissed hurriedly. It was not the time to rationalize such a ludicrous desire.)

She had grown to trust him little by little in the past few days, but she was not ready to admit that yet.

And now, having wanted to kiss him so randomly, she felt unbelievably embarrassed.

She also could not help but blush at what she had been about to do.

It really must have been cactus juice, she thought uncomfortably.

"Katara, are you all right?" the firebender asked with concern.

She re-opened her eyes and was careful not to look him in the eyes. The waterbender nodded quickly.

She shook his hands off her shoulders and made an attempt to smile.

"I-I'm fine," she muttered, laughing nervously and turning away from him as quickly as she could, taking deep breaths.

The firebender was not convinced by this answer. He frowned with doubt.

Clearly something was the matter with Katara. She had not said a single angry word to him. She had not even glared.

And though these were supposedly signs of improvement in her treatment of him, he sensed that there was another reason for the alteration of her behavior. Something was amiss here.

The waterbender was walking away from him very quickly now.

Zuko was determined to discover her problem and hopefully help her with it. Her peculiar manner was unnerving him greatly.

"Wait," he called out to her.

He caught up with her and stood in front of Katara. She stopped abruptly and closed her eyes as soon as he was face to face with her. He also noticed that she had clenched both fists.

Zuko sighed. She still could not forgive him, could she? Nevertheless, he would try to help her deal with whatever was ailing her at the moment.

He would prove that he was worthy of her trust.

But she said nothing, although she seemed to be concentrating on ignoring him.

"Are you sure you're all right?" he asked again, "you look rather pale."

She was shivering slightly now, as if trying to suppress some pent-up emotion. Her stance was growing wobbly so he reached out and held her shoulders to steady her.

"Katara?" he repeated with concern.

Her brows furrowed and she seemed to reach a decision of some kind.

Slowly, she raised her eyes to his, her expression unreadable. She seemed torn about something, and there was a look in her eyes that seemed to ask him for pardon.

Her eyes were glistening with tears and she was looking at him imploringly.

"I can bear it no longer," she said suddenly.

Zuko was taken aback but did not relax his hold on her.

"Just remember," she warned him, "this isn't me, not me at all, this is all cactus juice, all right? Not me, cactus juice."

Before Zuko could ask her what she meant by this, Katara took his face in her hands and pressed her lips to his.

--

"Katara!!"

Hearing her brother's voice, the waterbender immediately released a speechless and incredulous Zuko who stood in a daze for the next few minutes.

"This is all your fault!" Katara shouted at Sokka, her finger pointing at him accusingly.

"What?" Sokka cried out in shock, not expecting such a reaction. He was supposed to be the outraged one here.

"If it wasn't for your cactus juice," Katara began.

"What are you talking about?" Sokka asked incredulously, temporarily distracted from the kiss issue.

He held up one of her old water jugs.

Katara's eyes widened and she gasped in horror.

"That isn't the one I always use!" she managed to say after a few minutes, unable to say anything else. A painful realization was slowly dawning on her.

"So it isn't," Sokka replied, "so why did you just kiss Zuko?"

The aforementioned firebender was still standing silent and dazed in between the siblings.

"I thought... it couldn't be," Katara stammered, "I mean, I thought it was just the cactus juice making me do crazy things."

Sokka shook his head.

"I'm afraid that was all you," the Water Tribe Warrior stated matter-of-factly.

The waterbender gasped, then looked helplessly from Zuko to her brother to Zuko again, realizing what had just happened, a warm blush creeping up her face.

And the firebender managed to recover just in time to catch Katara as she fainted from utter embarrassment.


End file.
